1. Field of the Invention
The present invention resides in catalytic supports and a method of preparing and using the same. Particularly, the invention teaches catalytic supports which can be combined with metals suitable for use in either a fluid cracking process or a hydrotreating process.
Around the turn of the century, motor vehicles in the United States began to appear in increasing numbers and gasoline obtained a degree of marketable value as a refinery product. Shortly thereafter, demand in the United States for motor fuels began to exceed the amount produced from refinery crude-oil runs geared for producing kerosene, fuel oils, etc., which were very much in demand at the time. Since then, the petroleum industry's most prominent problem has been inventing new and more efficient methods to meet the tremendous demand for gasoline without overproducing other petroleum products at the same time.
Due to the continually increasing demand for gasoline and the ever-shrinking supplies of crude cracking stocks, such as gas oils and the like, more attention has recently been directed to the hydrotreating of coal liquefaction products and/or catalytic cracking of heavier charge stocks such as petroleum residuals. These charge stocks, however, suffer from the disadvantage of having high metals content which is concentrated therein during a normal cracking process. The metals tend to deposit on catalysts and decrease the cracking characteristics thereof in a cracking process. The catalyst supports herein, when formulated with the requisite metals, are particularly formulated to increase the gasoline yield and quality (i.e., BTX) from gas oils during a cracking process and additionally to catalytically crack petroleum residuals with high selectivity to gasoline production as well as having improved metals tolerance characteristics. Examples of typical metals which can be present during the cracking and/or hydrotreating process include: nickel, vanadium, copper, chromium, iron, cobalt, molybdenum, and inorganic oxides such as the zeolites, etc.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several processes have been proposed in the past which use catalyst supports which are described as porous and which can be used in fluid catalytic cracking and/or hydrotreating processes.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,617,528; entitled "Hydrotreating Process and Catalyst;" issued to Hilfman on Nov. 2, 1971, discloses a hydrotreating process and a catalyst consisting of an alumina containing porous carrier material, a nickel component and a phosphorous component. The porous carrier is described as an adsorptive high surface area support. Suitable carrier materials include amorphous refractory inorganic oxides, for example, alumina, titania, zirconia, chromia, magnesia and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,838,040; entitled "Hydrocracking with Zeolite in a Silica-Magnesia Matrix," issued to Ward on Sept. 24, 1974 relates to hydrocarbon conversion catalysts which are described as having increased activity and selectivity as well as improved physical characteristics. The catalysts consist of crystalline zeolitic aluminosilicates and silica-magnesia. It is to be noted that the prior art fails to appreciate the catalyst support disclosed herein.